Two Sisters Food Group headquarters on Dial Lane, Hilltop, West Bromwich

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The holdings company behind Birmingham-based food producer 2 Sisters Food Group has reported a loss of more than £33 million despite a 23 per cent sales increase over the year.

The shortfall in figures released by Boparan Holdings has been attributed to the group’s acquisition of Vion UK’s Poultry and Red Meat businesses but is a severe drop on last year’s £42.5 million profits.

A weaker performance from the group’s chilled foods section which was badly hit by the horsemeat scandal in beef-based ready meals was also blamed.

However, group full-year like-for-like sales increased by 5.6 per cent with final quarter like-for-like sales up 7.7 per cent.

Group sales including the Vion acquisition were up 23.3 per cent to £2.88 billion, compared to £2.34 billion in 2012.

Operating profits was marginally up last year in the final three months of the year but the full-year figures were 14 per cent below 2012 levels at £92.2 million following the takeover of loss-making Vion.

Ranjit Singh, 2 Sisters chief executive, said: “Trading conditions have been very tough with inflation impacting cash squeezed consumers and the impact of the horsemeat scandal on the food sector.

"By working with our customers we delivered good sales growth although profitability was lower due to the impact of the headwinds in chilled and dilution from the Vion acquisition.

“This is a strategic acquisition increasing capacity in poultry for future growth and serving more meal occasions. While Vion poultry is currently loss making, we have started to implement our integration plan and aim to get the business to break even in 2014.

“We expect the economic environment to remain tough and we will work with our customers to deliver quality and value to consumers, invest in our brands, in innovation and our people, and improve efficiency.”